ALMOST two weeks after the ouster of all but one director on the board of Natural Cool Holdings, its shares have gained heat, muscling their way to the active list on Tuesday, amid an unfolding drama over the proposed divestment of a stake in oil exploration firm HMK Energy.
The stock surged almost 6 per cent to an intraday high of S$0.16, before cooling off to end the session at S$0.153, up 0.2 cent or 1.3 per cent. More than 37 million shares changed hands, against a three-month average of 13.41 million.
On Feb 8, the entire board, save chief executive officer Tsng Joo Peng, was ousted at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the Catalist-listed air-conditioning specialist.
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Disgruntled shareholders had then voted for the immediate removal of executive chairman Joseph Ang, 52, along with his brother and fellow director Eric Ang, 53. Other directors removed were Lim Siang Kai, who was chairman of the audit committee, Wu Chiaw Ching and William da Silva. They were replaced with new directors Lau Lee Hua, Ronnie Tan Siew Bin, Goh Teck Sia and Wong Leon Keat.
It was the second attempt in two months to boot out chairman Ang and most of the board members.
Shareholders Ong Mun Wah and Edi Ng, who together held more than 10 per cent of the company and were behind the second ouster attempt, had called for an EGM on Dec 22 to revoke the board’s share issuance mandate. They were unhappy about the board’s decision to place out 27 million new shares to incoming chief corporate officer (CCO) Ng Quek Peng. Mr Ng ceased to be CCO on Feb 15. The stated reason was “misalignment of interest with that of the company”.
The board – except for Mr Tsng – had reiterated that the two shareholders who called for the EGM were connected to HMK Energy.
Natural Cool’s drama started in late October when its single-largest shareholder Lim Teck Chuan first sought to remove Mr Ang from his position. Mr Ang survived this ouster attempt by a fairly narrow margin of votes at an EGM held on Dec 12.
The developments have also raised questions, particularly those surrounding the new directors’ relationship with the shareholders who called for the EGMs.
This article was first published on Feb 22 , 2017.
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